My first shoot for my first short documentary was ambitious, undirected, scattered. What can I say, I have a knack for going out there and knitting the sweater without the proverbial pattern. To my own chagrin and that of one editing professor, who shall remain nameless, I came back to the suite with a whole whack of what some may call “spray and pray”. There is no denying that my lack of structure has caused many hours of head-scratching, pen biting agony in front of a glowing screen. I have spent hours logging and relogging as a result of bad habits and just plain laziness. The process of learning all of these programs, techniques, and frameworks is arduous. We are feeling the burn, to say the least.

But, I believe some of the group are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Projects are taking form and the twinkle is returning to the eyes of my peers. And perhaps even myself.

Over the next few weeks I anticipate several dark hours spent with my right hand on the “J,K,L” keys, my eyes on tiny writing in Final Cut and my spine curling up into a Quazimodo-like hunch. But there is something magical about this. Something that I cannot quite put my finger on but that unites us in our cause. There is something excellent and pure, some deep (and possibly sadistic) need that we share to deliver our ideas and reflections in this medium.

It is with this letter that I urge my classmates to slog on! As the playwright David Mamet once wrote: “There are peaks and valleys, Darlene. Peaks and valleys. Okay, we're in a bit of a valley right now but we can't stay in one forever.”

There is only one force of history that can break the reign of hatred and resentment, and expose the pretensions of tyrants, and reward the hopes of the decent and tolerant, and that is the force of human freedom. Do you think so?